From Bias to Balance: AI’s Role in Workplace Equity

Most of the conversations around the proliferation of AI in the workplace revolve around the promise of increased efficiency and creativity. In these conversations, what gets lost is the potential of AI to foster a more equitable and inclusive workplace.

The latest episode of Mint's all-new series on AI, All About AI, presented in association with Salesforce, explored this very topic. It featured senior leaders from Salesforce who offered valuable insights into how AI can both help and hinder efforts to create equitable workplaces. Sriram Dinavahi, VP of Engineering; Molly Q. Ford, VP, of Employer Brand and Recruitment Marketing; and Alexandra Legend Seigel, SVP and Chief Equality Officer led the conversation. They emphasized the importance of centering all voices in AI development and addressing biases that may be embedded in the technology. 

Watch the full episode here,

How AI Will Elevate Employees

Alexandra Seigel stressed the importance of AI being an aggregator of all viewpoints.“When we think about AI, it is critical that we are centering all voices, all perspectives when creating the technology of the future… We also know that bias exists in society and bias can be reflected in our innovations, our workplaces, and our technology. And so we have to be intentional about addressing it.” By doing this, Seigel believes that we will be able to create technology that truly reflects everyone and is useful for everyone in the world.

Sriram Dinavahi highlighted the dual impact of technological advancements, stating, “Every technological change brings both challenges and opportunities, and in the long run, opportunity prevails.” He also emphasized the need for continuous education and upskilling in response to the rapid pace of AI development. By enhancing employee understanding of how AI is utilized, the data it works with, and the productivity it can drive, organizations can help bridge the current trust gap within their workforce. Dinavahi added that Salesforce, as a leader in tech development, takes responsibility for ensuring that AI fosters inclusivity across the board.

Molly Ford encouraged the industry to embrace AI's potential, stating, “We need to move beyond fear because AI is here to stay.” She believes AI can enhance creativity by enabling employees to focus on more innovative tasks, ultimately supporting a more dynamic workforce.

Ethical AI Use at Salesforce

Salesforce has already made significant strides in integrating AI to promote diversity and inclusion. Alexandra Siegel noted how AI is being used for inclusive coaching tools, automating tasks related to equality initiatives, and broadening outreach to underrepresented groups. AI can also play a key role in reducing bias in recruitment processes, ensuring that diverse talent is considered fairly.

To mitigate the risks of AI, Salesforce has implemented ethical guidelines through its office of Ethics and Humane Use, ensuring human intervention in AI processes and maintaining transparency in decision-making.

Dinavahi added that Salesforce encourages flexibility by allowing customers to choose the AI models best suited to their needs. This flexibility ensures that AI tools are adaptable, customizable, and controlled by users.

In addressing the consistency of AI, Dinavahi underscored the importance of grounding AI models in accurate, relevant data and using prompt engineering to enhance AI responses. By focusing on these aspects, Salesforce aims to deliver AI solutions that are both reliable and consistent in their outcomes.

Essential Skills in an AI-powered Future

On the topic of AI-led talent planning, Molly Ford quipped,“When does my digital coworker start? I can’t wait to hand off some of my activities!”

Ford foresees a time when digital agents or "talent bots" can streamline the recruitment process, efficiently matching job seekers with suitable opportunities based on their skills, preferences, and career goals. She believes that AI-powered tools can help recruiters identify top talent more effectively, saving time and resources. By automating mundane tasks like resume screening, AI can enable recruiters to focus on building meaningful connections with potential candidates. This personalized approach can enhance the candidate experience and attract top talent to companies like Salesforce.

Speaking on one of his favorite use cases of AI, Dinavahi said,“Slack AI has helped us maintain our sanity, prioritize things, be efficient, and get work done. It was very overwhelming using Slack only, but since Slack AI has come about, we don’t feel an information overload anymore.”

Seigel sees the potential of AI tools to address workplace gender inequality.“Research shows that women have less access on average than men to career sponsors. So there can be some AI agent that can connect them to those opportunities or help them understand what they need to do to connect to senior leaders.”

The enriching discussion concluded with the speakers agreeing that even in an AI-powered future, the most in-demand skills will be human skills. While data and AI competency will be a must-have to stay relevant, the uniquely human skills of empathy, creative thinking, and

Agility will be required more than ever. Empathetic leaders who demonstrate out-of-the-box thinking will remain in high demand no matter what AI puts on its resume.

Disclaimer: This article is part of Mint's editorial series All About AI, partnered with Salesforce